Beltway Blog — Fed up with inaction, Tipton pushes legislation to get Four Corners some local TV

Posted By
Allison Sherry
On
April 19, 2012 @ 3:02 pm
In
U.S. House,Washington Bureau |
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Rep. Scott Tipton[2], R-Cortez, wants all residents in his district to be able to watch Broncos games on television. Right now, a quirky FCC rule bars some local programming to La Plata and Montezuma counties.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Scott Tipton is seeking a legislative solution to getting Broncos games to Four Corners residents.

Since elected, Tipton, R-Cortez, has worried that some residents in his district can’t get local news and local sports programming because in-state broadcasts are not part of the “Designated Market Area” in the Four Corners region, according to the Federal Communications Commission. This means people in Montezuma and La Plata counties get New Mexico news instead.

Tipton introduced legislation Thursday that would enable Colorado television programming to trickle to his area. He says he’s still working non-legislative channels (he scribed a letter to the FCC last year, which was signed by the whole Colorado delegation) but introduced legislation because “residents … have gone far too long without television broadcasts from their own state.”

Reps. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, and Jared Polis, D-Boulder, have signed onto Tipton’s measure. Sen. Michael Benent, a Democrat, introduced similar legislation in the Senate last year.

The proposed law relaxes FCC rules and enables cable operators to offer Colorado-based broadcasts by making the “Designated Market Area” less rigid and less one-size-fits all.